This disclosure relates to light emitting devices and methods for manufacturing light emitting devices.
Light emitting devices in which lateral faces of a light emitting element are covered by a covering member formed of a light reflecting resin material, have been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2012-227470 (“JP '470”) and 2013-012545 (“JP '545”), and International Patent Application Publication No. 2013/005646 (“WO '646”). In these light emitting devices, light extraction efficiency is increased by disposing a light transmissive member between the light emitting element and a covering member, and extracting the light exiting the lateral faces of the light emitting element from an emission face of the light emitting device through the light transmissive member. The covering member has a function of retaining the strength of the light emitting device in lieu of a housing, and a function of reflecting the light that reaches the covering member after passing through the light transmissive member.
Moreover, light emitting devices that emit light of a different color than that of the light emitting element by disposing a wavelength converting member on the emission face side that converts the wavelength of a portion of the light from the light emitting element have also been proposed (see, for example, JP '470, JP '545, and WO '646). When disposed to cover at least the light extraction faces of the light emitting element and the light transmissive member, the wavelength converting member can convert the wavelengths of both the light exiting the light emitting element towards the emission face and the light exiting the light emitting element through the light transmissive member towards the emission face. Furthermore, the light converting member can also be formed to cover at least a portion of the covering member (see, for example, JP '470, JP '545, and WO '646). A portion of the light entering the wavelength converting member is scattered, and the wavelength is converted, by the phosphor contained in the wavelength converting member, and a portion of the scattered light may propagate across the entire wavelength converting member while being reflected by the covering member. Thus, by increasing the area of the wavelength converting member, the emission face of the light emitting device can be expanded.